I grew up in Chicago, Illinois, and received my BS in Education from Eastern Illinois University. I then received my MA in Teaching from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. I taught 4th grade for two years and then raised two sons with my husband. In 1978, I began a real estate career and three years later joined the late Mac Boyd, ARA, at Boyd Real Estate, Inc. We merged with Farmers National Company in 2006.
I became the first female ARA in Illinois and am an Illinois Certified General Appraiser. However, I did not renew my appraiser's license, and it expired in September, 2023. Up to my retirement in appraisal work, I mainly did row crop farmland appraisals in east-central Illinois. I am continuing with farmland sales and broker's price opinions on a semi-retired basis. In 2004 I became the first female recipient of the Land Realtor of America honor by the Realtors Land Institute. Honors received by the Illinois Association of Realtors are the Associate-Realtor of the Year in 1992 and the Distinguished Service Award in 2005. The Illinois Chapter of the ASFMRA honored me as the first female recipient of the Hall of Fame award.
I have co-written and taught CE courses for the Illinois Association of Realtors in Farm Brokerage and Appraisal, co-written articles for the Illinois REALTOR magazine, and testified in federal bankruptcy court as an expert witness.
My participation in the ASFMRA has included work on the Editorial, Bylaws, Governing Task Force and Volunteer Task Force committees. I am chair of the ISPFMRA Bylaws Committee and serve on the Memorial Scholarship Committee. Locally, with the Arcola Rotary Club, I am a Charter Member, served twice as president, and actively participate in Rotary District 6490 activities.